A new smartphone application is aimed at helping visitors like Danny Shaw and Brian Howard navigate the Blue Ridge Parkway. On Monday, the two took in the view at the Tanbark Ridge Overlook.

Written by

Jason Sandford

Visitors to the Blue Ridge Parkway can cruise a new smart phone application to help them navigate the nation's most visited national park site and its surrounding environs.

The Blue Ridge Parkway Travel Planner includes GPS maps, hiking trail descriptions and a link for up-to-date details on fall leaf color. The Blue Ridge Parkway Association, a group of travel businesses and chambers of commerce along the 469-mile parkway corridor, worked with the National Park Service to develop the application.

"This app really takes the association's user-friendly content and brings it to a whole ...